Year 2014….north of Seoul, S. Korea

The scent on the winds changed subtly, almost missed by the large dark grey wolf that was sniffing the air. Growling in pleasure at the thrill of the hunt pulsed through his body, the grey wolf howled, alerting the others in his pack that he’d caught the scent of their prey before bounding away in the direction the scent came from.

It was rare moments like this that made Donghae appreciate being a wolf as he lost himself in the thrill of the hunt. It’s been 2 years since they’d arrived in this new world with no hope of ever going back. Magic that way. Once it was done, there was no going back. 

The process in adapting to their new world was slow, sometimes painful, but the new things they discovered made the painful parts seem less painful somehow. Even the slight pang of homesickness faded more with each new thing they experienced, like when they’d gotten their first cell phones and could call each other, or the first time they’d gotten into a car and went out to the ocean.

The scent grew sharper, Bada forcefully reminding him with a sharp twist of his legs that they "were on a hunt and could he please pay attention?" Donghae changed to match the new direction of the large animal they were hunting, feeling somewhat ashamed he’d let himself wander off mentally during a hunt.

The form of a large brown wolf filtered into the left side of his vision as they closed in on their prey. Donghae could feel the other members of the pack closing as well. They’d soon have the prey cornered, and then their alpha would make the kill, take some for his beta and then allow the new pups in the hunt to eat first before allowing others.

This was the third hunt in the last 2 years. Their first one had happened when Donghae and the others had been formally accepted into the pack, and the second one was for the wolves in the pack who had reached full maturity as shifters the year before, which allowed them to become a part of Pack hunts and other adult business. Now the occasion for the hunt was for the good fortune that had come their way in the form of a business transaction that one of the wolves, someone named Lee Jinki, had brokered, which would give the Pack more monetary resources to use.

The howl of their alpha brought a shudder through the pack, the almost midnight black wolf had edged out into the circle where the small deer they’d cornered was turning around trying to find a way out from the circle of wolves and felines that surrounded it.

Anticipation rose amongst the pack members, the thrill of the hunt culminating into the thrill of the kill. Donghae felt his mouth water as he bared his teeth, Bada shuddering with pleasure as the anticipation grew. His other pack members were experiencing the same thrill, the same dark desire to sink their teeth into the succulent flesh of the deer they’d cornered, yearned to bask in the taste of the warm salty blood that would come out of the cooling meat.

Issuing one last smug howl, Jo Jungsuk leaped powerfully from his spot to the neck of the deer, the satisfying crunch of bones breaking and snapping as the tangy, coppery scent of blood filled the clearing.

The other pack members issued the howl of a hunt well done, the sound lingering in the air as Jungsuk ripped out the base of the deer’s neck, the animal thrashing as it went down, dying magnificently as Jungsuk lapped at the blood, his mate and the beta of the pack, Kwon BoA, coming forward to claim her share of the kill.

Donghae felt Kyuhyun slide up next to him, both laying down to wait for their alpha’s signal they could partake of the kill. Kyuhyun whined, pushing his head towards Donghae as if to shake him out of his thoughts. ‘I’m just contemplative.’ Donghae assured him through their mate bond.

‘Good. We were worried you had lost the scent back there.’ Kyuhyun responded.

A huff from off to their right revealed the light grey form of Heechul, reminding them gently that they needed to pay attention to what was going on around them. The new shifters were all now taking the parts that Jungsuk ripped off for them, the alpha being careful to give them just enough to sate their hunger for the kill, but not too much to prevent them from being able to shift back to their human forms. 

Gluttony was one thing that killed more wolf packs than anything else, as having too much to eat distorted the transformation due to the extra blood flow and digestion of the stomach.

Later on, after the rest of the pack had eating their share of the kill, and gone back to the country Pack house to shift and sleep off the exhaustion that usually came from being released from the thrills of the hunt and kill did Donghae realize how much the Pack had needed this release as the emotions of the Pack bonds settle down into a peaceful lull of contentment.